Triangulations, Heegaard splittings and hyperbolic geometry

Original Announcement

This workshop will be devoted to the study of 3-manifolds via two new methods of
decomposing them - efficient triangulations and Mom technology. These are reminiscent of the classical tools of triangulations and Heegaard splittings and one goal of the
workshop is to draw connections amongst these four structures. Furthermore, we aim to make connections between these decompositions and the geometry of the manifold.

The
workshop will bring together purely combinatorial 3-manifold topologists, hyperbolic
geometers and specialists on the curve complex. Some of the specific questions we
would like to address are:

Is there a natural way to build efficient triangulations from Heegaard splittings?

How do efficient triangulations relate to Mom structures?

How do these combinatorial structures relate to the geometry of the manifold?